I left the child care industry and I have no regrets

In October of 2022, I made the choice to leave the childcare industry for good. After working in the field of childcare off and on for many years, I decided to leave it once and for all, and I'm very happy with that choice. To give all of you a quick recap. I started working in childcare while I was still in high school. Since I enjoyed doing it, I decided to make it into my career. I went to a local community college and studied early childhood education, and I earned myself two certificates in that field. During my time in the field of childcare, I discovered that it is a job with a very high turnover rate. The stress levels are very high, and in my state, the ratio is one to twelve. To sum it all up, the pressure and stress are extremely high, and the pay is very low. Teachers often spend their own money on their classrooms, and they are often mistreated by children, parents, and management. To put it bluntly, I would not recommend working in childcare to my worst enemy. Since officially leaving childcare, I have been working in the world of retail, and of course, this field of work is not perfect, but in my experience, it is many times better than the field of childcare. After a day of working in childcare, I was exhausted in every way possible. Now, after work, I'm tired, but I don't feel drained in the way I did before. I no longer have the pressure of protecting children's lives while also having to stick to a sometimes too advanced curriculum. After all my years in childcare, it became clear to me that the world of childcare is in need of a lot of help, and unfortunately, it is the children that are suffering the most from this broken industry. Of course, there are always exceptions to rules, and there are some childcare centers that are good places for children and staff to be. However, those places are few and far between. A vast majority of people enter into this industry for all the right reasons. They have a talent for teaching young children and they have a caring and kind personality but this industry as it stands now is not a healthy place for these people to be. It is not unheard of or even uncommon really for teachers to quit on the spot with little or no warning. I personally saw this happen twice, but I have also head about it happening at other schools. The pure stress and often times mistreatment that is experienced by people in this industry can turn a kind and carrying person into a bitter and cold person. It is no secret that teachers and childcare workers are not valued the way that they should be, but I feel like we do not talk about the mistreatment enough. Teachers are often fighting uphill battles in which they are trying to do what is best for the children in their care while also keeping the parents and the management happy. It was not uncommon for me to cry during my time as a childcare worker, and I'm sure many others would say the same. I sincerely worry about the state of childcare in my area and beyond. Big changes have to happen if things are going to improve. The first thing that needs to change is the ratio. A one to twelve ratio for children that are only two years of age is ridiculous and, in my opinion, dangerous. With this ratio, child care centers are able to enroll more children, but it makes the quality of care that a child receives lower. I am convinced that whoever set that ratio did not spend much time at all working with children. Even if the ratio was changed, I still would not go back to the industry after my experience with it. However, it would greatly improve the childcare industry going forward, and it would probably increase the quality of teachers who want to work in the field of preschool or childcare. To put all of my thoughts into a simple sentence, I will say that if you are thinking about becoming a preschool teacher with the rules as they currently are, especially in the state of California, don't.